merlyn
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Posts posted by merlyn
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I have an older Pfaff, it was a home machine modeled after an industrial machine it's a freaking tank.
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my machine has a free arm, if you don't have that then you have a flatbed machine but it shouldn't make a huge difference, you just need to figure out the best way to handle the fabric and I would suggest doing practice runs. I made 5 hats at the very start none of which were very good, two of which were way too small because I had printed out the paper the wrong size. It's tricky until you figure it out then it isn't. Pin everything really well, pinning is vital, your machine can sew over pins if the are perpendicular to the presser foot and if you go slowly. Slow and stead is the key when you are beginning with these, there are lots of curves so it requires that you ease the fabric into being curved. You will get the hang of it and your hat that you showed looks SO much better than my 1st one so you are already way ahead of the game.
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As the person who made the black hat in Phil's pictures which was sent to him as a test hat for sizing etc... and who has made countless hats for many many people I want I should weigh in on this.
Firstly I am not a trained seamstress of tailor. I learned how to make these via trial and error. I did so because in Europe at that time there wasn't many options to buy hats and buying from the US justis not cost effective or time efficient. So I learned how to make hats because I needed a hat. So did my husband, then someone asked if I could make theirs and that is how it began.
Phil, you mentioned that part of the problem stems from the fact we all use the same pattern that's posted online, well I can't speak for anyone else I know that I try my best to get it right and am always adjusting my patterns accordingly so while I may have begun with a generic one which by the way was modeled off a pattern from Kathy van Beuningen, to whom we all owe a huge debt of thanks for sharing her impressive
knowledge of sewing officer things, and then altered and shared again as a properly drafted pattern with various sizes and instructions on how to put it together
( something for which I am deeply grateful) in the end the patterns we start with are not always the patterns we end with. It's not as if we can pop down to the local sewing shop and buy a License hat pattern is it?
So while you may not like the pattern that is out there it's what we have to start with. Without it I am sure a lot less hats would have been made.
This being said it is not easy to make these hats. It is even less easy to make the hats well and then make sure they actually fit. Every person's head is different and that makes getting the hats perfect for every person who asks
for one also difficult so most makers tend to go with a set group of sizes ( s, m,L) and leave it at that.
Personally I don't mind trying out custom requests ( make the brim shorter, make the flaps tighter, make that hat in fake fur ( yes done that) but it is incredibly irksome when people start using pictures of my work to point out whatthey feel are flaws especially when it is not done in a polite way ( ie pictures with circles to what a person doesn't like with the descriptive and helpful words "good" "not good") I'm not sure about anyone else here who makes stuff
for people but that sort of critique just makes me feel as though I just got transported back into school and some teacher has handed me homework to redo. It makes me not want to make you things.
And as I do this in my free time at a cost loss I get to choose for whom I make things.
I read fairly often that people who make hats should pay more attention to detail, look at the movies for reference etc.. do the small bias binding along the flap tops, oh but the hats are too expensive can you make them cheaper.Again not speaking for anyone else it takes me around 4 -5 hours to make a hat from start to finish. that's 5 hours of my day gone on making a hat for which I ask 50 euro. So that's 10 euro an hour
( less than my actual working wage from my real job) and that does not cover my materials which include good quality gabardine, expensive iron in interfacing, and lining materials, plus the thread and the wear
and tear on the sewing machine and the iron and ALL the needles I go through because the hats get quite tough to sew through with all the layers. This is a lot to consider and we are making these things by hand, it's not factory
die cut fabric and then stitched together by people working in a factory somewhere earning next to nothing. If you ask for me hat and you want it to look a certain way I will do my best for you IF YOU ASK ME nicely.
If I make a hat and it doesn't fit right I will re do it because for me you paid for a hat that should fit you.
Aside from the discussion with Phil and one I recently had with someone else no one has ever sent my pictures of my work with diagrams and circles and little notes as to what was good or not good and as far as I know no one has
complained about the hats I have made at least they have not done so to me though I do ask for them to let me know if there is an issue, and I have only had to redo 2 or 3 of them
because they did not fit in the entire 6 years I have been doing this. This tells me that most people are happy with their hat.
So please let me give you some advice. Instead of complaining about the hats not being perfect which no matter how you slice it is what this thread is about, It's really quite simple.
If you order a hat please remember it is a hand made thing and it will never be 100% perfect, but when I spend several hours pouring over the movies and the pictures taken from the movies it is perfectly obviousto me neither are the hats in the films perfect, in fact some of them are downright awful, they are too small, or too big, or just badly constructed. Some of the hats have a lot of the little stitch lines on
the brim and some have a lot less, some flaps touch the hat crown and some go over, some brims are tiny and there is at least a cm between the flap edge and the brim edge and some overlap the flap edge.The only
thing that is certain is that no two are alike and that is because they too are all hand made.
If you want to order a hat from a seller and you have special instructions be kind about asking for them. By all means send pictures of what you are asking for but I would also ask you to be mindfulyou are not correcting a student's work you are asking for someone to make you something above and beyond their normal work methods. How you ask for something makes the world of difference and the person
making the hats ( or whatever you are asking for) has the right to refuse you.
1: Set up the guide rules first ( ie: if it doesn't fit can I get it replaced,)
2: Ask questions if you have them before it gets made, afterwards is too late. ( are they willing to do something different than they usually do, if they are then ask if they would mind you showing what you mean with pictures)
3: Be mindful that someone, even if they do get paid for it, is using their spare time to make you something, they don't have to do this.
4: If you are really unhappy with how hats are being made then I would respectfully suggest you do what most of us have done and you learn how to sew them yourself.It is very rewarding to make things for yourself and it also teaches you that making something look right and talking about something looking right are very different things.
As far as I know everyone tries their very best to get it right, it's not an easy or often an affordable hobby so try to be kind when being critical. -
If you are searching the German ebay pages for boots there are some key words to use.
The German word for boot is Stiefel.
The German word for leather is Leder. Don't be fooled by synthleder that's the not leather stuff.
NVA stands for Nationale Volksarmee and was the name used for the armed forces of the GDR. ( East Germany before the reunification)
knobelbecher ( will get you mainly the boots used for TIE pilots, the ones with the straps at the calf)
Seestiefel ( same as above but because people call the boots by different names it brings up different offers)
NVA Parade Stiefel ( this search will bring you the taller, straight shaft parade boots with no strap at the calf, these boots are generally shorter than riding boots but taller than knobelbecher although some people call them the same thing)
NVA Stiefel ( same as above but a broader search parameter)
Schaft stiefel ( this search will get you straight legged boots from right across the board. It's the broadest word you can use to search for the kind of boots most of the people here look for)
offizier stiefel (This brings you officer boots from also right across the board and also from across many time periods and countries)
Reitstiefel ( this is the word for riding boots and this is what you will get)
This page ( all in German) has an excellent size chart at the bottom for the various sizes ( normal EU, Bundeswehr, US, Uk and it will help navigate some of the standard sizes you will see. If you are looking for riding boots or officer's boots you also need to consider calf width this is known as Wadenweite in German so if you are looking at boots this is the word to look for and the measurements will always be given in CM as Europe doesn't do inches.https://www.freudenberg-shop.de/shop_content.php/coID/15/item/14 Please note I'm not advertising this shop, it just has the best comparison table.
By riding boots you will seriously need to watch out for synthetics as there are a lot of those mixed in with the leather ones. You can search for echt leder ( real leather) and that will narrow it down a lot.
I hope this helps a bit. -
and for sizing this page also has a good table on it showing how the BW sizes correlate to the standard show sizes.
https://www.freudenberg-shop.de/shop_content.php/coID/15/item/14
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There is a member, Kodiak, over on the Jolly roger forum who used leather repair gel and show polish to fill the holes, it did an amazing job. The thread is here if people are members they can read it http://www.jrs501st.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=12578&sid=3a5914cf1ffa9fe7e0fb33659ac2ccc8 I have a few pairs of knobelbecher here that I will sell and one of them also has these holes so I will try this fix as well. If you are looking for these boots when you search ebay.de also look for seesteifel and if you want officer style you can search for Offizierstiefel or paradestiefel.
I think that any good leather repair paste use to fill holes and large tears will probably work and then just polish them up. -
this is awesome thank you
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I went with a similar style cap when I first started the costume, without doing enough research I couldn't see the problem. Whilst reasonably well made they're not very accurate. The peak is a little too long, the peak should really be more like an ellipse than a circle. The main part of this cap is cylindrical instead of conical.
It's taken me a while to find some of my early pics, believe me when I say I'm not proud of them, and cringe when I see them.
I worked with another lady, who sadly no longer produces custom caps to identify the differences between the inaccurate and onscreen cap.
As you can see my black cap sits too far back on the head, the proportions of the peak are wrong, and main shape of the cap was more cylindrical than conical.
Here's a pic of what we came up with.
This is my current cap (Museum Replicas, sadly discontinued)
This is the look you're aiming for
I'm the person who made Phil's green hat and I still make hats but I work slowly and on only a few at a time.
I use the pattern that's been modified from Kathy's and over the years that in turn has also been modified to work better with the screen shots. It's an organic process and I am not a trained seamstress but I got better at it. Phil's alterations helped a lot. What I find more interesting is that when you look carefully at the hats from screen captures you will see they are also all slightly different and not all of them fit the actor's heads properly.
I enjoy the process of making hats and try hard to do the best job possible but mine are not done with the bias rim, ( that's fiddly and frustrating to do) so if you are looking for that I can't help you. If you want to see pictures of the hats there are some here, http://tinyurl.com/q3oanbw .
I would just like to make a small correction to Phil's statement: I never stopped making them but I also don't generally advertise either. It's something I do in my spare time to fill a need because in Europe they are hard to get. I don't do bulk orders and I don't take pre payment but I still do make hats.
I would have replied earlier but I am not on the forums a lot.
Cheers
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currently banging my head against the wall repeatedly. I can't believe I can't figure this out on my own. and now I have 2 months left to do it in.argh
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avatars are cool
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yay for pictures. I'm going bananas trying to figure this out on my own.
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That whole green/grey thing is what prompted me to just do a black uniform; it's easier than deciding on 50 different shades of olive green!
On a related note, I hear that 50 Shades of Gray on the other hand is rather pleasurable, but my wife won't unlock the door to gimme any details.
50 shades of Grey..... fan fiction rewritten to be published...my advice stay away from it or reading it is liable to cause olive poop. Just saying.
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I know people have cut plexiglass to make tiles and there is a company in Bremen that sells the buttons.
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The 14th century stuff is my cup of tea. The 15th c. stuff is cool, but I don;t have the legs to pull of the outfit!.
I like earlier period clothing it's easier to sew but then again Ia m lazy....
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awesome pictures!
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what kingdom are you in?
and originally the SCA wasn't so much about being period correct more about having fun. ( not that the two are mutually exclusive or anything)
for pictures of one of the last events held here I direct you to this album. We get to hold our events in real castles - pretty cool.
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My pleasure. It was good to be able to give these stamps which have been sitting in the secretary desk cupboard for nie on 7 years now to someone who will enjoy them.
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packet of stamps sent yesterday per airmail, so they should reach your side of the world in a week or so.
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the marks are called postmarks.
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never mind it was a silly question..
anyway I will look through the mail and see what I can do.
cheers
Fiona
*edit - I just found some Swiss ones!
and omg I just found a big box of postmarked german stamps from a collection I picked up ages ago. Will sort through that and send it along. It's been collecting dust ion a drawer for over 8 years and I am happy the stamps will now have a home.
edit2 okay stamps in an envelope ready to go.
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wow that looks pretty darned fantastic.
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aside from the collar what alterations to this pattern did you need to do. I ask since chances are this will be the pattern I use for my uniform when I eventually get to it. The husband is up first and I'll use the civil war costume for that.
And do you have pictures of your officer outfit? I'd love to see what you did.
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Thanks everyone, you guys are absolutely awesome and I love this board!
You made my day.
Help! Imperial hat - Topstitch
in Costume Questions - Ask Here!
Posted · Edited by merlyn
There are a billion ways to do the same thing, you will figure your own method out. You will find the comfortable way to tip, turn and hold the fabric while you get the foot where it needs to go. You can always undo mistakes ( except for cutting too small then that's a whole other ball game) that's what your stitch ripper is for. Believe me I have undone my fair share of not sewn right things. What works for me may not work for you, it's trial and error and practice. You will get the hang of it and soon you will be joining the ranks of mad hatters like the rest of us.